BMC to demolish, rebuild Gokhale Bridge

The bridge, which connects Andheri East to West, is used by pedestrians to access the railway station

The Gokhale Bridge, which connects Andheri East to West, will now be entirely reconstructed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said civic officials. The initial plans, however, were to only construct the approach roads. While a portion of the bridge has already been demolished, the civic body is still in the process of drawing up the reconstruction plan.

The Western Railway authorities have asked the BMC to raise the height of the bridge. With the bridge being a crucial connector, the repair work has led to interruption of traffic flow.

The pedestrian pathway of the bridge had collapsed on July 3, 2018, killing two persons. It has been more than three years since the incident and repair work continues to be a work-in-progress. The BMC had decided to conduct the work in two phases, instead of dismantling it at one go.

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Currently, due to the repairs, it takes about 20 minutes to cross the bridge and reach Western Express Highway from SV Road (Andheri West). The construction of Teli Gully Flyover has also led to increasing bottlenecks in the area. However, the officials said once the work is completed, the traffic issues will be resolved.

After the tenders were floated, railways had requested the civic body to increase the distance between the alternating current (AC) and the bridge. Currently, it stands at five meters and will need to be raised to 6.5 metres. The development was confirmed by Chief Engineer, Bridges, Satish Thosar.